My new article is about family violence and knee-jerk reactions

How to stop child abuse and sexual abuse is not as simple. But as an observer you have this frustration, this helplessness and this stomach-churning revulsion and so, I understand the temptation Joe Hildebrand feels in making the solution simple, though he is mistaken. Only those with incredible strength and patience work in the field of family violence and child abuse because the problem is just that nightmarish and crafting the solution is that protracted as a process. If you can’t handle the complexity, if you’re feeling yourself beginning to break, beginning to reach for big dumb hammers to crack this nut then you have to step away, you’ve become part of the problem.

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2 Responses

That’s a sensational piece, Andy. Many of us out here (thankfully) don’t understand abuse through lack of experience. ‘Understandably misguided’ is a beautifully gentle approach to the outraged who demand the satisfaction of direct and effective responses.
I suggest this might be required reading for anyone living in a community with men, women and children. Certainly, anyone given a soapbox.